Two black men arrested at Starbucks settle with Philadelphia for $2

“I am pleased to have resolved the potential claims against the city in this productive manner,” Mayor Jim Kenney said in a statement. “This was an incident that evoked a lot of pain in our city, pain that would’ve resurfaced over and over again in protracted litigation, which presents significant legal risks and high financial and emotional costs for everyone involved.”

He added that Robinson and Nelson approached the city with the idea “in an attempt to make something positive come of this.”

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Seattle-based Starbucks Corp. previously apologized for the April 12 arrests of Nelson and Robinson while they sat inside a store in the city’s wealthier Rittenhouse Square neighborhood waiting for a business meeting — an act that observers say is hardly uncommon.

The store manager who called 911 on the men as they waited is no longer with that store.

Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson in a statement Thursday thanked Nelson and Robinson for their “willingness to reconcile.”

“I welcome the opportunity to begin a relationship with them to share learnings and experiences,” he said.

@Starbucks The police were called because these men hadn’t ordered anything. They were waiting for a friend to show up, who did as they were taken out in handcuffs for doing nothing. All the other white ppl are wondering why it’s never happened to us when we do the same thing. pic.twitter.com/0U4Pzs55Ci

Nelson and Robinson were eventually let go after about eight hours in police custody, with a spokesman for the district attorney’s office saying there was a “lack of evidence” that a crime had been committed. Starbucks did not press any charges.

Demonstrators still voiced their outrage in protests and said the arrests had become a flashpoint for how businesses treat people of color differently than white customers. They carried signs saying, “Too Little Too Latte,” and “Shame on You Starbucks.”

Robinson, who said he’s been a Starbucks customer since he was 15, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the agreement with Philadelphia was the right decision.

“We thought long and hard about it and we feel like this is the best way to see that change that we want to see,” he said. “It’s not a right-now thing that’s good for right now, but I feel like we will see the true change over time.”